Dan Hannan to be kicked out of the EPP for highlighting despotism in the European Parliament

This should be the last nail in the coffin for those still unsure about the principle of leaving the European’s People’s Party.

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Dan Hannan explains the drama over the Telegraph.

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“The problem is not that economists are unreasonable people, it
’s that they’re evil people,” [Yale University psychologist Paul Bloom] said. “They work in a different moral universe. The burden of proof is on someone who wants to include” a transaction in the marketplace.

Read the rest of it…its well worth it.

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n Toronto, if Saturday’s SUNShine Girl is any indication.

SUNshine Girl Cat is a brown-eyed Capricorn who strives for nothing short of the best at all times. This fitness enthusiast loves stretching out on the beach and soaking up the sun. Dogs everywhere better watch out, this Cat is not to be messed with.

Indeed.

the blog québécois

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Welcome to the January 31, 2008 edition of carnival of the vanities.

Homelifeweekly presents How to Make Your Own Valentines Day Card posted at Home Life Weekly, saying, “Easily print you own valentines day card is to download and print”

Bela presents >How to Catch a Mouse | House Chronicles posted at House Chronicles.

Nehring presents 28 WEEKS LATER (2007) posted at Nehring The Edge, saying, “A movie review of the horrid follow-up to 28 Days Later”

Dob Bole presents Bush’s Economic Smokescreen posted at >FedUpAmerican, saying, “A post analyzing the problems of the Bush economic stimulus package.”

GrrlScientist presents Berry Butts: Parasitized Black Ants Resemble Red Berries posted at Living the Scientific Life, saying, “An amazing example of a parasite that causes its host to resemble a luscious red berry—all so the parasite’s eggs are passed onto birds, the next step in the parasite’s life cycle.”

Aparna presents 12 beauty uses of baking soda posted at Beauty and Personality Grooming, saying, “You can concoct your own beauty products in the convenience of your home by mixing a few ingredients from your kitchen shelves. This statement might seem so oft-repeated and clich, but surely we all have no second thoughts about the veracity of this claim. While olive oil is one such versatile product with a number of beauty uses, baking soda is another.”

Alvaro Fernandez presents Looking inside the Brain: is my Brain Fit? posted at SharpBrains, saying, “How neuroimaging and the brain reserve theory support the value of education, lifelong learning and stimulating hobbies”

blue skelton presents Film Production Links posted at Blue Skelton Publications, saying, “Here is a comprehensive guide of all the film production links featured on the Production Blog. We are switching the focus of this blog over to purely filmmaking as we will now strictly work towards being a resource for independent filmmakers.”

New Old-Fashioned Gal presents How Did They Do It? posted at Diary of a New Old-Fashioned Gal, saying, “I think that I’ve found the secret to keeping my home clean!”

iamstr8fire presents Never Settle For Less – Being Black Doesn’t Mean posted at Never Settle For Less.

Avant News presents Cognitive Dissonance May Provide Cure To Non-Existent Global Warming posted at Avant News.

GrrlScientist presents Stem Cell Treatments Offer Hope to Injured Horses posted at Living the Scientific Life, saying, “Stem cell treatments are apparently helping performance horses to recover from career-ending tendon injuries to their legs. This treatment in horses has implications for human treatments as well.”

Madison presents Cancel Sprint Service Without Early Termination Fees posted at My Dollar Plan, saying, “There’s still time to cancel with Sprint!”

Daniel Lafleche presents Sundance Film Festival 2008: Five Key Trends and Must-Knows for Indie Directors and Producers posted at Film and Video Marketplace Blog, saying, “The fascinating 2008 edition of the Sundance Film Festival , which has just ended, leaves us with a lot to think about. Here are 5 things to chew on as American movies face what is likely a pivotal year. Critical reading for indie and independent directors and producers.”

Kevin Fleming presents Which is Better for HD? Dish Network vs DirecTV posted at Satellite TV Guru.

GrrlScientist presents Bridge To Opportunity (Reprise) posted at >Living the Scientific Life, saying, “This is just a story about the Brooklyn Bridge, as written by a non-native NYCer; me! Includes history of the bridge and Emily Roebling’s contribution to its completion.”

Steve Faber presents - Ways to Waste Money posted at >DebtBlog.

Conan Stevens presents Nokia N95 8GB Vs Pentium PC posted at Conan Stevens Online, saying, “Head to head smart phone vs computer – is Nokias marketing blurb true?”

FitBuff presents Power of the Mind – Much Stronger Than Your Biceps! posted at FitBuff.com’s Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog, saying, “The power of the mind is a truly remarkable phenomenon, but don’t let books like “The Secret” fool you into thinking it does everything for you. When you add in the ACTION, then amazing things will follow!

Check out this study regarding the power of the mind, along with a story about how I lifted 50 pounds with my mind…”

Mike Buckley presents Watch Out for Health Insurance Scams posted at Mine Your Own Business.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of the vanities using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Tell your friends about the CoTV and thanks for reading.

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Stefan Beck examines the odd allure of the conspiracy theory, from anti-Semitic “cabalists” to 9/11 Truthers, who “may not believe every horror story, but… [believe] that every one is plausible enough to flog without shame.”

read more | digg story

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CentreRight laments the demise of the project Rudy. He has been a big favourite with the UK Tories. It will be interesting to see if they transfer their interest to McCain or just sit back and watch.

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This time it was Judy being a complete bloody idiot. She had to make a comment, as part of a feature on Spitting Image, that Ronald Reagan was far smarter than George Bush. Can someone remind me where this bonehead went to university? And where was it she got her degree in law? Then again maybe they are trying to prove how stupid they are so one would believe they committed such a great fraud against their own viewers with the “You Say We Pay” scandal.

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February 5: 21 states hold Presidential primaries. Here’s some of the latest state polling where available (and who conducted the poll) to provide a window into what’s going on the GOP side. The Florida results tonight have little effect on this overview. I’ll review the Dems tomorrow.

Republican primaries award delegates in a variety of ways. Some are winner-take-all (the first place finisher gets all delegates) to a mixed system (a proportional system based on statewide winners and congressional district winners). Delegates are the all important part of the game now. I will highlight standings of major candidates in each state with relevant primaries. Caucuses that do not directly award delegates are not summarized here.

AL - 48: 27 statewide and 21 by congressional district (3 for each of the 7 districts)
Rasmussen 01/23: McCain 27, Huckabee 27, Romney 15
Huckabee has to win here.

AZ - 50: winner-take-all
Two recent polls have McCain up 17 to 23 points over Romney. No reason to believe this will change.

CA - 170: 11 statewide and 159 by congressional district (3 for each of 53 districts)
Three recent polls have McCain leading by 5, 12 and 13 points over Romney.
The primary is open to Republicans only, meaning independent voters can’t participate. Romney has a shot to scoop up a few delegates here.

CT - 27: winner-take-all
Hartford Courant poll on 01/09 has McCain up 23 over Rudy. This one is over.

DE - 18: winner-take-all
Last poll in October had Giuliani up 23. That was the case in all the Northeastern states until recently. McCain should win this one as well.

GA - 72: 33 winner-take-all and 39 by congressional district (3 for each of 13 districts)
Rasmussen 01/22 Huckabee 34, McCain 19, Romney 16, Paul 12, Giuliani 11
Who picks up Rudy’s votes? Huckabee has to win here.

MA - 40: 10 winner-take-all and 30 by congressional district (3 for each of 10 districts)
Survey USA 01/23 Romney 50, McCain 29. Romney should win one of his “home” states.

MO - 58: winner-take-all
Rasmussen 01/24 Huckabee 27, McCain 26, Romney 18
This is one to watch.

MT - 25: winner-take-all
No polling. This is a caucus of over 2,200 GOP office holders and activists. This one is flying under the radar but is a pretty substantial prize.

NJ - 52: winner-take-all
Latest polls have McCain up 2 to 4 points over Rudy. Given McCain’s momentum in the Northeast and the rats leaving Rudy’s sinking ship, McCain should win here.

NY - 87: winner-take-all
Six polls in the last two weeks range from a tie to a 19 point McCain lead over Rudy. I’ve heard some NY GOPers are looking for a way to unendorse Rudy. The rats move on.

ND - 26: if one candidate received 2/3 vote then winner-take-all, otherwise proportional (15% minimum)
This is also a caucus. No polling. Another under the radar opportunity for a candidate to pick up some delegates on the cheap.

OK - 38: 23 winner-take-all and 15 by congressional district (3 per each of 5 districts)
SurveyUSA 01/13 Huckabee 31, McCain 29, Thompson 13 (?), Giuliani 11 (?)
Who gets Fred’s votes? Who gets Rudy’s votes? Another barnburner.

TN - 40: proportional (13 statewide and 27 by district)
WSMV-TV Nashville – Thompson 25, Huckabee 24, McCain 12, Romney 7
Do Tennesseeans vote for their favorite son?

UT - 36: winner-take-all
No polling. Romney.

WV - 18: awarded at State Convention
No polling. Activists take part in this affair.

The big events to watch:

– Missouri. Big swing state. Winner-take-all. McCain, Romney and Huck all in contention. – Where Huckabee wins (or loses). If he can’t win in AL, OK, TN and GA, then he will have no rationale to move forward. Even worse, he will have no leverage moving toward the convention. – The Northeast riptide. Save for MA, it appears McCain will in a large cache of delegates from NJ, NY, CT and DE. – California. Does Romney gain some traction in a primary that is restricted to registered Republicans only?

Look out for surprises under the radar, i.e., Montana, North Dakota.

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No2ID has gotten this document detailing all the options and approaches on which IPS is working. Some of the highlights as detailed by No2ID.

1) [Page 4, bullet point 3] Despite current assertions they are sticking with fingerprints, the strategy clearly includes options to gather personal information and issue ID cards WITHOUT fingerprints, e.g. “rising 16 year olds could be sent pre-populated forms for the Inclusion card… which would only need to be signed and returned”.

2) [Page 4, bullet point 5] Indication that up to 10% of the population will be called in for ‘interrogation’ (ID interviews).

3) [Page 3, bullet point 1] Language suggests it will effectively be compulsory to carry the card – counter to Ministerial assertion.

4) [Page 5,’Next Steps’, bullet point 1] Initial target groups (“trusted relationships”) to be identified and confirmed by end of January 2008 – i.e. within the next 48 hours!

5) [Page 4, bullet point 6] They are explicitly pursuing a policy of “coercion” not compulsion because universal compulsion “cannot be delivered quickly due to the need for inevitably controversial and time consumingprimary legislation and would pose serious political, enforcement and resource challenges.”

No2ID has helpfully annotated the document for ease of reading.

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My favorite headline of the year so far comes from The Daily Mail in Britain “Government Renames Islamic Terrorism As Anti-Islamic Activity To Woo Muslims.” Her Majesty’s Government is not alone in feeling it s not always helpful to link Islam and…

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PJM Oslo reports that things are getting difficult for gay people in continental Europe thanks to growing Islaminisation.

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the morning call.com:

Allentown police had suspected William Torres of dealing drugs in the city. But an undercover narcotics investigation yielded much more, and resulted in Torres, 21, being charged early Saturday with two counts of homicide.

Police said Torres, whose last known address was 436 Turner St., Allentown, gunned down two men at Fourth and Allen streets last month. According to court documents, Torres admitted killing the men.

Torres was driving on Turner Street Friday afternoon when he was pulled over by police and arrested. He was wearing a hooded sweartshirt with a skull-head pattern on it, pajama bottoms and fuzzy lion-faced slippers at the time. He was still wearing the get-up when he was arraigned after midnight at Lehigh County prison.

the blog québécois

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Just watched the rally where Obama got the endorsement of Ted Kennedy. How hammered was Ted during his intro? The man was coughing and slurring his words like a piss-head on a Saturday night. It was fun to watch.

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Tim is not exactly perky about the UK immediate prospects and lists his reasoning why in this piece. I have to say that he is not the only one who feels this way. I find his general outlook to be rather common amongst my British friends these days. There is a very much a “bugging out” attitude with some of them. Not quite Saigon in the early 70s but getting quite pessimistic. Its sad to see optimism of many younger Britons sucked out by the general attitude that prevails in the establishment these days.

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It’s only about three months behind schedule, but Qtrax has finally launched in public beta. With a library of more than 25 million songs available to users, including tracks by the like of Alicia Keys and the Foo Fighters, Qtrax could certainly appeal to a wide variety of musical tastes.

But it doesn’t work with the iPod…so um wtf is the point of it?

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Fox seems to think this might be bogus dude.

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Wrote this in response to this thread on AMG about a recent brawl at Lewiston, ME basketball game.

[i]give kids something to do other than study study study.[/i]

But surely the whole point of school is study and learning? Wouldn’t it be a better idea to have a good computer lab than have a whole myriad of sports teams? Which one of those two things would actually benefit the most people.

Why should taxpayers pay for it? Sports are limited by their very nature. They create people who think they are superior to all others because of their physical skills. School sports create bullies and thugs. Its a myth that they build character. You want to build character in young jocks send them to the military where they can do something useful for their community. If a child wants to play sports so bad why not do it after school on their own time? Why do jocks get preferential treatment over those that want to do ballet, or music or whatever?

Mock the debate team as much as you want ,but it teaches far more useful skills (rhetoric, creative thinking, analysis, research etc) than learning a bunch of plays and how to tackle someone for the football team.

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No just kidding its Muslim terrorists again in Pakistan. They have taken a school in the North of the country. Its said up 250 students may be in the building being held at gunpoint. Obviously this lot of thugs were inspired by Beslan.

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I wrote this after watching a documentary on TV about junkies and prostitutes in Vancouver`s Downtown Eastside, a notoriously seedy area. It was just depressing, a panorama of failure and misery. It was and still is a tough place: An acquaintance from high school went out there for the party scene and was dead within the year. As are, I presume, all of the people interviewed for the documentary. Dead from overdose; dead from AIDS. And though Robert Pickton was still only a malign shimmer on the horizon, there was no shortage of his predecessors.

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Welcome to the January 28, 2008 edition of best of me symphony.

Life. Money. Development. presents 7 easy (and overlooked) tips for a healthy life posted at Life. Money. Development., saying, “Short tips about healthy life”

Life. Money. Development. presents Choosing a Topic for your Thesis posted at >Life. Money. Development., saying, “How to select a research topic”

Life. Money. Development. presents Working in groups: 10 keys for success posted at Life. Money. Development., saying, “Advice for working in groups”

nickel presents Changing Our Reward Credit Card Strategy posted at fivecentnickel.com.

mom & dad presents Helicobacter pylori Rears its Ugly Head posted at raising4boys.com.

TherapyDoc presents Controlling Your World and Everyone Else’s While You’re at It posted at Everyone Needs Therapy, saying, “Is Kermit rolling in his swamp. The kid gets the best of you symphony.”

Tupelo Kenyon presents TupeloKenyon.com How to Accelerate Manifestation posted at Tupelo Kenyon, saying, “Whenever a new desire or grand plan is born within us, the tendency is to share it with others. Every time we talk about it, the energy of the dream seems to deflate a little more, until it becomes merely a topic of idle chatter. Why is that? How can we add to the excitement and urgency of our dreams instead, and speed up their manifestation? (Enjoy soothing instrumental music as you read plus song selections with lyrics related to each article all free.)”

Gavin R. Putland presents Gays in the conservative closet.

Bela presents Ghosts in the Radiators: My Crash Course in Home Heating | House Chronicles posted at House Chronicles.

Nehring presents THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS (2006) posted at Nehring The Edge, saying, “A review of Will Smith’s well constructed and enjoyable film.”

200motels presents OBAMA-RAMA Barack Obama, The Knicks and Hip-Hop posted at 200motels.net, saying, “This is not a complimentary blog”

Alex Blackwell presents Feel the Music in You posted at The Next 45 Years, saying, “While allowing my heart to hear the words to the song, it occurred to me that I did indeed own my life. Regret and shame were just pieces of garbage I had been carrying around long enough. But there was still plenty of time and there was still plenty of hope and fight left in me.”

Leslie Carbone presents Leslie Carbone: Pearl Harbor posted at Leslie Carbone, saying, “Thanks for hosting!”

Missy presents Correct Grammar, Does It Serve A Purpose? posted at Incurable Disease of Writing, saying, “Would you use someones essay as a supplement to your own work if it contained errors?”

blue skelton presents The First Junkie Ninja Monologue posted at This Wasted Monologue, saying, “Present Day, Hospital Waiting Room – Blue Skelton is reflecting on the imminent birth of his first child.”

Silicon Valley Blogger presents If You Want To Succeed, Heres How NOT To Promote Yourself Or Your Business posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “Thank you!”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of best of me symphony using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.>

Technorati tags:

best of me symphony, blog carnival.

And naturally there is a Britblog collection; as well as you weekly done of SNN.

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On February 1, multi-Platinum rockers Journey will release their new Virtual Island in Second Life. A grand opening party is planned inside Second Life at the “Journey Rock Band” sim and will feature a meet and greet with band members. Live DJs will be spinning many of Journeys classic hits, recorded studio and live performances, as well as lots of other great music for fans to party to! The grand opening party is scheduled to start at 10:00am ET/PT. The Journey Island region in Second Life is named Journey Rock Band. Learn more at Second Life.

Journey has long been known for innovations in stage sets, so creating a Second Life Island for fans to enjoy was an easy decision. The Island features dedicated areas for each album along with audio and video presentations. There are also two venues on the island, the Escape Club and the Captured Amphitheater, where live SL events can be held.

New singer and new virtual island is Second Life; it looks as if 2008 will be an interesting year for Journey.

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By implying that Muslims obey sharia law through fear, Dr Suhaib Hasan has been very helpful in reminding us exactly why sharia law has no place in Britain.

Mary Harrison, Goring on Thames, Oxon

In the Sunday Telegraph’s letter page.

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Twenty-two states that are now very much in play thanks to the state of play on both sides of the fence. Obama’s big win in South Carolina has thrown up the prospect of a Democrat primary race based on ethnicity. Its not surprising that Obama got most of the black vote in SC. But the statistics are quite staggering it has to be said. Lets see how hispanics vote on Super Tuesday; I suspect they will mostly go Clinton.

Tuesday is Florida for the Republicans, the Democrats get no delegates because of date machinations, and it looks as if Rudy is going to look rather silly. His strategy seems to have failed on current polls. If he were to win it would really make it more likely there is going to be a “brokered convention”.

One wee worry however is that Edwards might be a king-maker because of the proportional representation nature of many of the primary/caucus states for the Democrats.

Amusing aside: The ultimate political nightmare.

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One of the side-affects I warned about with the antibodies I am getting with chemo is spots (aka pimples in the US). I was not shocked that I got quite a bit patch of them. However what I was not warned about what the fact that I might have gotten pimples on my penis. And yes they really bloody hurt. Its all part of making the odds better than I don’t get cancer again…but…damn it!

On the writing front I have produced yet another chapter of the cancer book. I hope to do another one by the end of the weekend. Sitting up is good for me as it hurts less down there.

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The common argument seemed to be that the acceleration and clustering of states’ primaries would create a chaos from which no electoral good would come. I’d like to suggest an opposing view: this primary season has been remarkably successful at letting the public come to know the candidates and what they’re about. Why?

The British press seems to think its bad to have a healthy primary season as well routinely using words like “chaos” to describe it. Considering the growing democratic deficit in the UK you would expect the British press to admire the on-the-ground gritty politicing of the caucus and primary season. Many including the BBC seem to use the lack of a front-runner as yet another excuse to bash Bush.

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FRIENDS of rogue trader Jerome Kerviel last night blamed his $7 billion losses on unbearable levels of stress brought on by a punishing 30 hour week.

Kerviel hid his November losses in a batch of wonderfully fresh croissants.

Kerviel was known to start work as early as nine in the morning and still be at his desk at five or even five-thirty, often with just an hour and a half for lunch.

One colleague said: “He was, how you say, une workaholique. I have a family and a mistress so I would leave the office at around 2pm at the latest, if I wasn’t on strike.

“But Jerome was tied to that desk. One day I came back to the office at 3pm because I had forgotten my stupid little hat, and there he was, fast asleep on the photocopier.

“At first I assumed he had been having sex with it, but then I remembered he’d been working for almost six hours.”

As the losses mounted, Kerviel tried to conceal his bad trades by covering them with an intense red wine sauce, later switching to delicate pastry horns.

At one point he managed to dispose of dozens of transactions by hiding them inside vol-au-vent cases and staging a fake reception.

Last night a spokesman for Sct Gnrl denied that Kerviel was overworked, insisting he lost the money after betting that the French were about to stop being rude, lazy, arrogant ********.

from Tabitha

As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher’s Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around… per the Watcher’s instructions, I am submitting one of my own posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.

Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.

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Line Golfer is a variant of the popular Line Rider. Instead of drawing slopes for your little sledder to traverse, you design a golf hole to play (it doesn’t seem to have the capacity yet to link holes together to build a course but I expect it soon will). It’s more like miniature golf in that you can set up tunnels, etc., to channel the ball. If you don’t want to bother building your own, there are plenty of other designs you can load and play.

Note: If the game doesn’t seem to do anything, close the window and load it again. Second time’s usually the charm.

the blog québécois

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Trying to answer the question “Who are the most influential people in the World?”, led me to believe that Bloggers as opinion leaders may be the answer.

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What would happen if physical property could be duplicated like an MP3 file? What if a poor society could prosper simply by making pirated copies of cars, clothes, or drugs that cure fatal illnesses?

Sci-fi writers have always been good at predicting how the future will look. We, and I am one of them, are futurists with our imaginations. The above piece is pretty interesting and well worth a read.

read more | digg story

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Clearly at stake is the very future of Christianity as the nation”s public religion. With multiculturalism gaining ground as a philosophical position, Islam rides on its coattails. Since all faiths are to be treated equally according to this multicultural faith…

read more | digg story

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Last night Kim and I went out socially for the first time since my operation. One could argue that it was pretty much a “normal” evening in London town. We met up with Devil’s Kitchen in pub filled with coppers down for a march. We had a nice couple of beers while chatting about politics and his new designs for our blog(s).

It was then off to meet up with James, my best man, at the Commonwealth Club for dinner. I have to admit at the end of the evening I was slightly more tired than I would normally be but rather pleased. This morning I woke up feeling perfectly fine. So I hope that this is portend for the “off weeks” in the fortnightly course of treatment. If you are a friend in London realise that its unlikely I will be up to much on the week where I have three days of chemo.

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. . . in your lap:

Full size picture here.

the blog québécois

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